Member Schools

The University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine has a 50-year tradition of providing outstanding student-centered classroom and clinical training. Our students benefit from innovative, evidence-based teaching and learning in an environment that fosters excellence in research and healthcare.

Beginning in the fall of 2004, more students will have the opportunity to pursue a career in medicine—and more BC students will be able to study closer to their own communities. In recognition of the urgent need for more doctors in the province, particularly in the Island and Northern communities, the Government of British Columbia announced the expansion of BC’s medical school with a mandate to double enrolment of first-year students from 128 to 256 by 2010. Enrolment in 2004 will increase by 72 students, to 200.

The University of Alberta, one of Canada’s premier research universities, has more than 400 research laboratories, Canada’s most powerful laser, expertise in biotechnology and a major agricultural research station. The University of Alberta also boasts one of North America’s top libraries with more than 9 million books and resources. Areas of established and emerging research excellence on a national or international scale include medicine, chemistry, engineering, social policy and English literature.

The University of Alberta has more than 3,300 faculty members and more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Fifty-eight members of the Royal Society of Canada are among a faculty that leads the country in 3M Awards for Teaching Excellence -- Canada’s highest undergraduate teaching honour. The University of Alberta’s Industry Liaison Office has spurred development of 38 active spin-off companies and has put the University of Alberta in the number one position in Canada for licensing revenues. The main campus has more than 90 buildings on 89 hectares of land in the heart of Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city, which has a population in the metro area of roughly 930,000. One in five students at the University of Alberta comes from outside the province and 99 countries of origin are represented in the student body. The university provides extensive support for international students.

The University of Calgary is a dynamic research and teaching university of growing national and international stature, with 16 faculties and 53 academic departments and major program areas. U of C offers programs leading to undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional degrees in a number of traditional and interdisciplinary fields.

Every year more than 26,000 full-time equivalent students are attracted to U of C from every province and territory and from 87 countries around the world. The university offers significant support to undergraduate students: more than 5,900 awards and scholarships totalling $6.9 million each year.

With external research funding of $172 million, the University of Calgary is recognized worldwide as a leading research university. The U of C houses many research institutes, centres and groups investigating a wide variety of topics such as human behaviour, institutions and cultures, energy and the environment, technologies and information and health and wellness. Virtually all faculty members engage in research, scholarship and creative activity.

The 213-hectare university campus is designed for pedestrians, with extensive lawns, flower beds and walkways. Parking lots have been restricted to the periphery and visually shielded as much as possible. The main campus features more than 20 academic buildings - all interconnected by enclosed walkways - as well as a modern students' union building, a museum and art gallery, two performance theatres and a performing arts centre, a child care centre, and residences for single students and students with families.

The University of Calgary's athletics facilities include one of only two covered speed skating ovals in North America, two hockey rinks, tennis courts, a triple gymnasium, the city's largest racquet centre, an Olympic-size swimming pool, weight rooms, jogging tracks and a massive indoor climbing wall.

Since it was founded in 1907, the University of Saskatchewan has conferred more than 110,000 degrees. Alumni can be found on every continent, making contributions to business, science, education, government and the arts. With more than 900 faculty in its 13 colleges, the university offers more than 70 specializations for undergraduate and graduate students, one of the broadest program arrays of any university in Canada. Programs include agriculture, arts, humanities, social sciences, commerce, education, kinesiology, fine arts, physical sciences, engineering, health sciences, medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, pharmacy, nutrition, nursing, and veterinary medicine.

The university is a focus for athletics and cultural activities in Saskatoon, a city of 200,000 located along the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. U of S "Huskies" compete in 15 sports, providing an exciting opportunity to watch Canada's best amateur athletes in action. University faculty, staff and students are active in Saskatoon events like "Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan" and the Fringe.

With more than half of all first and second-year classes enrolling 25 or fewer students, class size is one of the University of Saskatchewan's most important features. The university is also a Canadian leader in providing support and enhancement programs for Aboriginal students in education, law, commerce, arts and sciences, and engineering.

Annual research revenues for University of Saskatchewan faculty recently topped more than $100 million. The university is also the centre of an active community of federal and provincial research agencies and private research companies.

The Canadian Light Source, Canada's only synchrotron radiation facility, will begin operation in 2004. The CLS will attract more than 2,000 researchers annually from around Canada and the world, and will be a magnet for top students in a variety of disciplines, including agriculture, biochemistry, chemistry, electronics, geology, materials, medicine, pharmacology and physics. The Chemical Engineering addition, to be completed in May 2002, will include a pilot plant that allows simulation of processes used in industry. New space is also being constructed for the Saskatchewan Structural Science Centre. Construction of a new kinesiology building is also under way with features including a triple gym with seating for 2,500, an elevated walking and jogging track, a 1,300 square metre fitness centre and a rock-climbing wall in the main foyer. At the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, completion of an addition to house a Magnetic Resonance Imaging unit and cobalt radiation therapy equipment is expected shortly, making it the only veterinary teaching hospital in Canada with an MRI dedicated to pets and the only facility in western Canada able to provide radiation therapy for animal cancer patients.

The University of Manitoba offers a diverse range of courses and studies in 66 degree and diploma programs, including a full range of professional programs. It offers master's and doctoral programs and opportunities for post-doctoral educa-tion in many disciplines. The university has special access programs for those who do not have the background required for university entrance and the continuing education division offers a wide range of professional and certificate programs. A newly created faculty of environment is scheduled to admit its first students in September 2003.

Most students complete the first year of their degree programs in University 1, a year that allows students to take the specific courses required for one or more faculties/schools and at the same time be exposed to courses in several disciplines or professions.

The University of Manitoba is a research-intensive university and is home to 33 research centres and institutes ranging in scope from applied ethics, aging, cell biology and higher education to health policy, earth observation science and theoretical physics. These centres and institutes provide unique interdisciplinary educational and training opportunities and are a valuable resource for the community at large. An industry liaison office facilitates the commercialization of university research and links the research expertise of the university with business and industry as well as with government agencies and other universities.

The main campus is in the Winnipeg suburb of Fort Garry, about 12 km from the city centre, and the medical/dental campus is located adjacent to the Health Sciences Centre, in central Winnipeg, the province's largest tertiary care complex. Clinical research and medical teaching are concentrated at this hospital and the St. Boniface General Hospital.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine opened its doors to the Charter Class in September 2005 and is the newest medical school in Canada in over thirty years. NOSM is a joint initiative of Laurentian and Lakehead Universities with co-campuses in Sudbury and Thunder Bay as well as dozens of teaching sites distributed throughout Northern Ontario.

First and second year students are based primarily in either Sudbury or Thunder Bay. During this time there are also three mandatory month-long experiences in rural and remote communities including one First Nations reservation. Third year clerks are based in large rural and small urban communities for an innovative longitudinal comprehensive community clerkship (CCC). These communities include Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, North Bay, Sioux Lookout, Parry Sound and others. Fourth year students return to Sudbury and Thunder Bay for more traditional-style rotations through the core discipines. Opportunities for electives throughout Canada and the world are also available.

The curriculum is objective-based and small-group-focused with supplementary whole group sessions and labs each week. Early clinical and community exposure is emphasized, along with social determinants of health, and Aboriginal and Francophone health issues. Small class sizes and individual attention are a key feature of the curriculum, especially in weekly structured clinical skills sessions.

The guiding values of the medical school are: (1) a passion for living in, working in and serving northern urban, rural and remote communities (2) sensitivity to diversity (3) excellence in medical practice, teaching, learning and professionalism.

The MD program at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is four years in length. At completion of the program, graduates will have earned an MD degree equivalent to all other Canadian medical schools. Graduates of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine will be ready and able to undertake postgraduate training anywhere in Canada; however, they will have a special affinity for training and clinical practice in northern urban, rural and remote communities.

London's University of Western Ontario is one of Canada's oldest, largest and most beautiful universities. Together with 3,000 faculty and staff, our students enjoy a diversified academic and social life. In its size, cohesiveness and diversity, Western boasts many of the best features of both a small town and a cosmopolitan city.

Like much smaller universities, Western has an excellent faculty-student ratio of 1:18. There are larger lecture classes, but the average first-year class size is 80, few are more than 150, and senior classes are substantially smaller.

In addition, at Western, lectures are complemented by labs and tutorials of about 30 students. It's Western's way of assuring that dialogue and an interactive learning environment are as much a part of the academic experience as the lectures.

The MD Programme at McMaster is a three-year intensive programme which uses a problem-based approach to learning that should apply throughout the physician's career. The components have been organized in sequential units with early exposure to patients and case management. Flexibility is ensured to allow for the variety of student backgrounds and career goals.

The Programme is operated on an eleven months-a-year basis and students qualify for the degree Doctor of Medicine at the end of the third academic year. The curriculum has been designed to keep medical students involved in a broad range of health problems throughout their education and to prepare them for effective working relationships with patients, colleagues and society.

The clinical programmes use the teaching hospital and extensive ambulatory care and research facilities of the clinical teaching units at each of the major Hamilton hospitals and community health care centres. In addition, the Northwestern Ontario Medical Programme (NOMP) has been developed in co-operation with the Thunder Bay Medical Society and physicians in towns in Northwestern Ontario.

The University of Toronto is an outstanding centre of undergraduate, professional and graduate education. At U of T, professors of international calibre bring leading research and scholarship to bear on their teaching and provide opportunities for study and discovery at the forefront of the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

U of T's 40 libraries, among them Canada's largest research library and dozens of specialized facilities in the colleges, faculties and schools, contain more than 10 million volumes and a plethora of other material. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, one of North America's great collections, attracts scholars from around the world.

With more than 2,000 undergraduate courses in the faculty of arts and science alone, as well as 81 fully accredited doctoral programs and hundreds of courses in 14 professional faculties, U of T affords its students an unrivalled education leading to rewarding careers in a vast array of exciting fields. Students, among the most talented in Canada, benefit by programs of study abroad, national and international exchanges, cooperative education and inter-instructional experiences with dozens of affiliated institutions, including a renowned network of teaching hospitals and community-based health units, museums and art galleries.

Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, was one of the first degree-granting institutions of higher learning in central Canada.

Today the university comprises 15 faculties, colleges and professional schools, as well as the International Study Centre at Herstmonceux, East Sussex, U.K. Queen's has influenced Canadian higher education for more than 150 years, earning an international reputation for scholarship, spirit and diversity.

The university's tradition of innovation, quality and leadership in the academic world is exemplified by the many beginnings Queen's has orchestrated. Queen's people publish Canada's oldest scholarly journal. They pioneered graduate work and correspondence study in Canada, and were the first to offer academic programs in business and commerce, engineering physics, art conservation, policy studies, and industrial relations.

Canada's first lectureship in politics and economics was established at Queen's, as was the first course in radiological physics, the first chair in Canadian history, the first national MBA program using tele-conferencing technology, and the first privately-funded executive MBA.

Located in the heart of the national capital, at the juncture of French and English Canada, the University of Ottawa holds a unique place on the academic map of Canada.

The university distinguishes itself through its special mandate to promote bilingualism and French culture in Ontario. On campus, in what amounts to a small city within a city, more than 25,000 students from a variety of heritages study, live and work side by side in surroundings that foster the English and French cultures.

The university's nine faculties - arts, education, engineering, health sciences, law, management, medicine, science, and social sciences - offer nearly 140 undergraduate majors and concentrations. Under the aegis of the faculty of graduate and postdoctoral studies, they also offer graduate programs leading to master's and doctoral degrees in most of those disciplines. In addition, the University of Ottawa offers an extensive array of co-op programs.

Excellent programs are complemented by a proximity to major libraries, government agencies and research institutions as well as the university's involvement in global technological initiatives.

Culturally, the departments of music, theatre and visual arts provide a full program of concerts, plays and exhibitions. Festivals, fairs, films and public lectures of every description - many with an international flavour - as well as a broad spectrum of interuniversity, intramural and recreational sports make the campus a lively and vibrant place.

With Mount Royal as a backdrop, McGill's main campus is set in the heart of the second-largest French-speaking city in the world. The campus is a mosaic of heritage and modern buildings laid out around an oasis of green space facing Montreal's commercial district. A short drive west of downtown, the Macdonald Campus occupies 647 hectares of woods and fields on the shores of Lac St-Louis.

Founded in 1821 thanks to a generous bequest by Montreal merchant James McGill, McGill is one of North America's leading research institutions. Cutting-edge facilities and innovative research programs attract internationally respected teachers and researchers and first-class students. McGill researchers attract more funding, publish more and are cited more often than researchers at any other Canadian university.

With an international reputation built on strong academics, McGill's 21 faculties and professional schools offer degrees in more than 300 disciplines. The university has six affiliated teaching hospitals, 73 research institutes, four remote research stations and a network of 17 libraries. It is also home to five major museum collections including the 600 acre Morgan Arboretum, the largest in Canada.

McGill offers students unparalleled opportunities to enrich their educational experience through exchange programs, internships and field study programs. The university recognizes and honours academic distinction and leadership qualities through an extensive program of entrance awards and scholarships. It provides about $8 million a year in undergraduate scholarships and student aid.

Dalhousie University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The university community includes more than 900 full-time professors and 13,600 students, including 750 international students.

Dalhousie's strengths include the ability to provide a wide selection of 175 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. New programs include health information management and a minor in journalism. Diverse programs include costume studies, music education, marine management, occupational therapy, meteorology, medicine and a science foundation year.

Dalhousie researchers attract more than $50 million in funding annually. Recognized strengths in health and ocean studies are joined by a growing involve-ment in advanced technical research, information management, materials science, neuroscience and genomics.

Dalhousie has about 32 hectares of attractive grounds, including three closely situated urban campuses. Recent additions include a state-of-the-art Computer Science Building and a centrally located Arts and Social Sciences Building. The university offers close proximity with major teaching hospitals, provincial and federal research labora-tories and the provincial archives.

Advantages include an extensive system of libraries, a sophisticated computing infrastructure and major recreation and cultural facilities.

Oceans, marine studies, the people of the sea - their history and communities - and the technology of ocean industries make up the focus of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Memorial brings together an impressive collection of people - students, teachers, researchers, scholars - and advanced technology to explore the mysteries of the oceans. Its extraordinary blend of disciplines includes marine biology, archaeology, oceanography, folklore, nautical science, naval architecture, maritime history and aquaculture. From its futuristic Ocean Sciences Centre, perched on cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean, to the main campus in the centre of St. John's, Memorial is culturally, socially and intellectually linked to the sea.

Capitalizing on its unique mid-north and Atlantic location, Memorial emphasizes outreach education by serving as a community resource and expanding its international linkages to promote individual, cultural and economic growth. The university offers a high-quality, affordable educational experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Excellence in education is furthered by a highly successful cooperative education program that welds theory and practice.

In addition to programs offered on its St. John's campus, Memorial offers several degrees at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial's campus in the western Newfoundland city of Corner Brook. The university also offers specialized programs at a campus in Harlow, England, and French language and culture immersion at the Institut Frecker on the island of St-Pierre.

Memorial's Fisheries and Marine Institute is North America's most comprehensive institute dedicatedto education, training and industrial support in ocean industries.

But what makes Memorial truly unique is its people - the 900 faculty and 1,400 staff who, together with the large student body, have created a distinctive environment conducive to learning, personal growth and expanding knowledge for today and tomorrow.